Considering how young the season is there is a lot of room for ranking fluctuation. After the first weekend of the season we have a new team atop the rankings in the Tampa Bay Rays. The Rays swept the New York Yankees at home coming back against Mariano Rivera in the first game, breaking out the sticks in the second, and clinching the sweep behind a brilliant start from Jeremy Hellickson. A team that dominated competition in their first series was the Detroit Tigers who looked incredibly impressive in sweeping the Boston Red Sox at home. Detroit averaged over 8.5 runs scored per game – over two runs higher than another other team – in the series and had an average margin of victory of +4. Other teams that have started out hot include the St. Louis Cardinals, with a 3-1 record beating the Miami Marlins on Opening Night in Miami and taking two out of three from Milwaukee on the road, along with the Arizona Diamondbacks, New York Mets, and Baltimore Orioles, each of which had a home sweep in their first series. Some teams that looked unimpressive include the Boston Red Sox, Atlanta Braves, Minnesota Twins, San Francisco Giants, and Colorado Rockies.

1. Tampa Bay Rays ↑2
2. Detroit Tigers ↑3
3. Texas Rangers ↓1
4. New York Yankees ↓3
5. Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim ↓1
6. St. Louis Cardinals ↑5
7. Arizona Diamondbacks ↑5 
8. Cincinnati Reds ↑2
9. Philadelphia Phillies →
10. Toronto Blue Jays ↑3
11. Miami Marlins ↓3
12. Boston Red Sox ↓6
13. Atlanta Braves ↓6
14. Washington Nationals ↑2
15. Kansas City Royals ↑3
16. Los Angeles Dodgers ↑3
17. New York Mets ↑3
18. Milwaukee Brewers ↓3
19. San Francisco Giants ↓5
20. Pittsburgh Pirates ↑1
21. Cleveland Indians ↓4
22. Baltimore Orioles ↑7
23. Seattle Mariners ↑4
24. Chicago White Sox ↑1
25. San Diego Padres ↓2
26. Colorado Rockies ↓4
27. Chicago Cubs ↓1
28. Oakland Athletics →
29. Houston Astros ↑1
30. Minnesota Twins ↓6

Three Up

1. Detroit Tigers – Mentioned previously, but this team looked fantastic in its first series against a team that should figure into the playoff race. Miguel Cabrera, Prince Fielder and Alex Avila combined to hit seven home runs in the series. Putting runs on the board was not a problem. Doug Fister landed on the disabled list after his start and Max Scherzer couldn’t make it through three innings in his raising starting pitching concerns.

2. St. Louis Cardinals – Four road games against legitimate competition and three wins. Rafael Furcal, Carlos Beltran, and David Freese have led a powerful offensive attack thus far. The team has also gotten solid starting pitching performances. St. Louis is third in Major League Baseball with a +9 run differential.

3. Baltimore Orioles – The biggest mover in the rankings jumping up seven spots after sweeping the Minnesota Twins at home. Baltimore, unexpectedly, completed the sweep behind strong pitching – especially from its starters. Starting pitchers Jake Arrieta, Tommy Hunter, and Jason Hammel combined to pitch 22 innings and gave up only one earned run. The team only allowed five runs in the series. Nick Markakis is off to a hot start with a .556/.667/1.444 (AVG/OBP/SLG) with two home runs.

Three Down

1. Boston Red Sox – Oy. The Red Sox are off to a disastrous start just like last season. The team more than had its chances in the first and third games in the series and was destroyed in the middle game. After Jon Lester left the Opening Day game after seven strong innings, Boston pitchers gave up 25 runs in 22 innings against the Detroit Tigers for a 10.23 ERA. Late inning relievers Alfredo Aceves and Mark Melancon in particular are off to rough starts as they combined to pitch only one inning in four appearances giving up 9 hits and 7 runs for a 63.00 ERA.

2. Atlanta Braves – The Braves didn’t bring their bats to New York. In getting swept by the Mets, the Braves only mustered 14 hits in three games scoring only seven runs. Freddie Freeman leads the Braves everyday players with a .250 average. None of Atlanta’s three starters, Tommy Hanson, Jair Jurrjens, and Mike Minor, made it past the fifth inning. The bullpen held up nicely giving up two runs in 9 2/3 innings.

3. Minnesota Twins – Brutal start for a team looking to erase memories of a horrendous 2011 season. Minnesota went into Baltimore and got swept. The Twins only scored five runs in the series and allowed 15 for a -10 run differential, second worst after the first weekend of games. Minnesota pitchers combined to only strikeout 12 Baltimore batters in 102 plate appearances; they have the lowest K/9 rate in the young season at 4.50.

Until next week. Any thoughts on the rankings?